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Will Not Ask Extradition of Heinz Spanknoebel

December 11, 1933
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refused to “testify before a Jewish grand jury, be questioned by a Jewish federal attorney or take her oath on the Bible, which is based on the old Jewish testament,” is likewise beyond the jurisdiction of the federal authorities.

The federal grand jury will reconvene Wednesday, and it is believed that Dr. Griebl will be called upon for further testimony regarding his connections with Spanknoebel.

Heinz Spanknoebel’s disappearance inspired a nationwide search. Reports that he had sailed aboard the Hamburg American liner, Deutschland, could not be confirmed. Four days later a letter, apparently mailed from New York, was delivered to Dr. Griebl in which the Nazi leader explained that he intended leaving the country because he could not expect justice in the “American Jewish courts.”

BELIEVED IN HIDING

Since that time scores of reports have come to this city reporting him variously in an up-state home, in a small New Jersey town, in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Montreal. The most plausible reports traced his flight from New York to the German Embassy in Montreal, where he is believed to have remained in hiding until his departure for Germany.

To Spanknoebel goes credit for having Hitlerized the United German Societies, whose program for the celebration of German Day late in October was suspended by Mayor O’Brien on the grounds that the occasion was to be used for the dissemination of Nazi propaganda.

Sailing for Germany early Saturday morning aboard the Hamburg American liner, Albert Ballin, Captain Georg Schmitt concluded his mission in the United States. He has been here to coordinate the Stahlhelm organization in this country with the organization in Germany. The Stahlhelm corresponds in Germany with the American Legion here.

Captain Schmitt described the results of his mission as “satisfactory”, and, when asked concerning Spanknoebel, described the American Nazi chief’s activities as “tactless and hasty.”

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